This document discusses essential plugins for a WordPress real estate blog. It begins by stating that an IDX search solution is the most important addition to allow home searches on the site. It then covers various anti-spam, contact form, social bookmarking, subscription, caching, and other plugins that can increase functionality. For each type of plugin, 1-2 specific plugin options are mentioned. The document provides brief descriptions of the plugins and notes that some are free while others have costs. It aims to help users find useful plugins to enhance their real estate blog.

1. Essential Plugins for your WordPress Real Estate Blog Jay Thompson – PhoenixRealEstateGuy.com

2. Not a plugin, but the most important thing you can add to your real estate blog is… An IDX search solution IDX – Internet Data eXchange. The “MLS” on your website Choices vary by MLS Not all IDX solutions work in all MLS’s Not all IDX solutions are created equal Test with actual home searchers Most likely, you will need a “no sidebar” template 4/6/2010 TPREG.com Jay Thompson - Virtual RE Bar Camp

3. What is a plugin? A piece of code that adds functionality to your blog. Don’t freak out on “code” Some plugins conflict with each other. Add one at a time, and test Some plugins only work with specific versions of WP The vast majority are free. Some are not. Be careful, some are poorly coded and not supported well. 4/6/2010 TPREG.com Jay Thompson - Virtual RE Bar Camp

4. Anti-spam Akismet Included in standard WP install. Need WP.com API WP-SpamFree Compliments Akismet. Stops many spambots Bad Behavior Similar to SpamFree. Plays well with Akismet. Captcha’s Can be annoying to users 4/6/2010 TPREG.com Jay Thompson - Virtual RE Bar Camp

5. Contact Form Gravity Forms *Not* free ($39 for single site) Flexible, easy, sidebar compatible Free add-on tracks page formsubmitted from. Referrer info for Gravity Forms Cforms II Powerful, but can be complicated. Plethora of other options 4/6/2010 TPREG.com Jay Thompson - Virtual RE Bar Camp

6. Social Bookmarking 4/6/2010 TPREG.com Jay Thompson - Virtual RE Bar Camp Way for readers to share your articles on social sites. Sexy Bookmarks ReTweetand Facebook Share buttons

7. Subscribe to Comments 4/6/2010 TPREG.com Jay Thompson - Virtual RE Bar Camp Subscribe to Comments Allows commenters to get emails of others comments Set so not enabled by default

8. Email & Print Post 4/6/2010 TPREG.com Jay Thompson - Virtual RE Bar Camp WP-Email and WP-Print Surprised how much email link is used. Some analytics provided. Exercise caution – Big Brotherish

9. Subliminal Message 4/6/2010 TPREG.com Jay Thompson - Virtual RE Bar Camp Please contribute if you can: DanKeitz.com

10. Mobile Themes 4/6/2010 TPREG.com Jay Thompson - Virtual RE Bar Camp WordPress Mobile Edition WordPress Mobile Pack WptouchiPhone Theme

11. Cache Plugins 4/6/2010 TPREG.com Jay Thompson - Virtual RE Bar Camp Reduce server load and speed up sites W3 Total Cache WP Super Cache

12. Increase time on site plugins 4/6/2010 TPREG.com Jay Thompson - Virtual RE Bar Camp Recent Posts Recent Comments Similar Posts Random Posts Popular Posts All available at http://rmarsh.com/plugins/

13. Encourage Commenting 4/6/2010 TPREG.com Jay Thompson - Virtual RE Bar Camp CommentLuv “DoFollow” Numerous options

14. Nerdy Plugins 4/6/2010 TPREG.com Jay Thompson - Virtual RE Bar Camp Executable PHP Widget – php code in sidebars Google XML Sitemaps – helps SE’s crawl site FeedburnerFeedsmith – Track RSS subscribers Feedlist – converts RSS to HTML FLV Embed – embed video directly TS Custom Widgets – different widgets on pages/posts WP DB Backup – back up your database, a MUST have

15. Product Specific Plugins 4/6/2010 TPREG.com Jay Thompson - Virtual RE Bar Camp dsIDXpress Must be a Diverse Solutions IDX subscriber Altos Connect Widget Must be Altos Research Pro subscriber

16. Finding Plugins 4/6/2010 TPREG.com Jay Thompson - Virtual RE Bar Camp See something cool? Ask! WordPressPlugin Directory Google – “Cool plugins” “Essential plugins”

17. Thanks! 4/6/2010 TPREG.com Jay Thompson - Virtual RE Bar Camp Presentation posted on Slideshare: http://www.slideshare.net/PhoenixREGuy Please, help my friend Dan Keitz http://DanKeitz.com